2008-05-31

I shouldn't necessarily say quiet, as Whyte Ave was fairly busy tonight. But something was missing. My spies from whatever the hell the Overtime has become now reported it too, and I'm waiting to hear back from people who were at Shanks for some big corporate challenge party.

No women.

The bars were all huge sausage fests, from Pawn Shop to Wunderbar. Why?

2008-05-30

Police say five people whose bodies were found in a Calgary home earlier this week all died of stab wounds.

Insp. Guy Slater also confirms the identities of the victims as Joshua Lall, his wife Alison, their young daughters, Kristen and Rochelle, and tenant Amber Bowerman. They were all found in the Lall home in an upscale neighbourhood in northwest Calgary on Wednesday.

Word is Joshua Lall was feeling possessed by the Devil in the days leading up to the tragedy, but his boss at a Calgary architectural firm tells the Canadian Press there were no outward signs that anything was wrong.

Without referring directly to the Calgary tragedy, an Edmonton psychiatrist Doctor Pierre Chue says it's difficult to predict how the story will end up, adding that it's extremely rare for someone to go through such a transformation -- from normal life to deadly violence -- in such a short period of time.

Lall says the best advice he can give, is for someone feeling depressed -- or for those around them -- to consult a doctor so a proper treatment can be started. (BP, ccg)

Er, I think they mean that "Chue says the best advice he can give". Lall was the killer's name. They want to quote the Edmonton psychiatrist, not the Calgary murderer, right? Right?

2008-05-27

Why does the Witch-King (head of the Nazgul) break Gandalf's staff in The Return of the King?

No, wait, how does he do it? Or maybe more to the point, how can he do it?

Gandalf defeats the Balrog of Morgoth in both the book and the film, and the Balrog is a Maiar (like Gandalf). The Nazgul is just a puppet of Sauron (the most powerful of all the Maiar), not a Maiar himself. Gandalf should kick the shit out of him. After all, Aragorn held off against 4 of the Nine (and Gandalf against 5 of the Nine) the night of the Weathertop attack.

2008-05-25

"The Saga Begins". I watched The Phantom Menace two weeks ago as I watched all 6 Star Wars movies in order. I should have spent 5 minutes watching this video instead of the film, as it would have been over faster and been more entertaining:(embedding disabled, curiously enough)

The immortal music video for "One" by Metallica:

You aren't supposed to know what he says. I just warn you because thats a common question after watching the music video for Radiohead's "Just":

2008-05-23

A mob rampaged through a west-end cafe in a bloody attack yesterday that sent three men to hospital.

After the bloodshed, angry Kurds pointed the finger at their Turkish neighbours.

"This attack is a well-organized hate crime against Kurds by racist people," said Metin Yesilcimer, who rushed to the scene as soon as he heard about the violence.

Two men in their 40s and one in his 50s were taken to hospital with non life-threatening injuries after a group of 20 to 25 armed men stoned Ankara Cafe at 15960 109 Ave., and assaulted eight people with metal batons, knives and stones, said eyewitnesses.

"They are like Nazis. They are Turkish Nazis," said Yesilcimer, who said he was speaking on behalf of the victims.

STORMED THE CAFE

Just before 4 p.m., about eight construction workers were playing cards, drinking coffee and watching television when the attackers suddenly stormed the cafe.

"Somebody could have been killed here today," Yesilcimer said.

Cuma Yuksel, 40, sustained a bloody cut above his left eye, Halil Ekinci, 50, had a swollen arm, and Riza Med, 42, had a bruised nose after they were beaten with wood and metal sticks.

The attackers fled before cops got to the scene.

The owners were left to clean up smashed glass, droplets of blood and broken chairs and tables.

Or else it will come out your nose and/or spill all over your shirt. Specifically, put the drink down as you read this passage:

But that kind of lame public-service pretext hardly warrants making the suggestion that the demise of 23-year-old Isaiah Otieno, who had a helicopter fall out of the sky onto him, was somehow owing to his own carelessness.

"I think they're kinda odd," Denise O'Brien said of the portable urinals strategically placed on the streets of Old Strathcona for the May long weekend.

"I think they just need to start arresting people who are drunk and urinating in public places," said O'Brien, who works in one of the shops in the area.

So can I be sober and urinate in public places? Or does O'Brien want people actually drunk arrested too?

The thing about the portable toilets are that they are in fact a pretty good idea (which, along with 24 hour bus service on Whyte Ave, was what a friend of mine emailed to the mayor back when his name was Bill Smith). After all, at 1:55am bars serve you your last drink. Then some of them, the "new" Urban Lounge being a relevent example, kick your ass on the street about 8 minutes later. After 2am the bars refuse [are they required to refuse to allow you in after last call? I don't believe so, as places like casinos and 24 hour restaurants let you in after 2 o'clock -ed] to allow you back in. So you have hundreds if not thousands of people being thrown onto the street after drinking, and there are literally no facilities they are allowed to use. (Marco's on Whyte has a bathroom if you can find it not out of commission) If the corrupt EPS is going to be issuing $500 urination tickets then there has to be some alternative to the streets for people to use.

2008-05-18

The holiday now officially commemorates the memory of patriots who struggled for democratic institutions during the Lower Canada Rebellion, part of the Rebellions of 1837-1838.

These Rebellions were against...surprise surprise, the British.

From my own experiences in Quebec and dealing with transplated Quebecers, there's not a thing on this earth save perhaps Eve and the Apple which cannot be directly traced back to "the hated English". And there's not a normal Anglais thing that the goddamned useless French can't allow to exist without their own sick subversions.

So, I have a plan. As you may know, June 24th is Saint-Jean Baptiste Day where St. John, the patron saint of Quebec, is honoured. It is Quebec's biggest holiday, and the "pride" of their culture.

We should totally subvert it.

I propose that June 24th become a statuatory holiday in the Province of Alberta, and that we name it General Wolfe Appreciation Day. It's a tough fit since Wolfe was born in January and died in September, but its still a good day to celebrate his beautiful Conquest of 1759.Alternately we can use it to celebrate the June 24, 1340 Battle of Sluys, where King Edward III slaughtered 20,000 French troops and sunk most of the French fleet. Calling it "King Edwards Day" might work halfway well, but I still think naming it specifically after General Wolfe, Hero of the Plains of Abraham has a certain je ne sais quoi.

The point being that I want parades. I want floats with actors portraying Wolfe standing tall with a saber in his hand with his foot Captain-Morgan style placed upon the head of Montcalm which sits at the bottom of a guillotine (historical accuracy is not required in the parade). I want a major spending of some of this oil money for the express purpose of making Quebecers in Alberta feel small and miserable for not being of the glorious English-speaking population. I want a celebration of Quebec's defeat, and I want it to poison every Quebecer's memory of their most glorious holiday.

Why is anyone in this city surprised that a cop charged in that drunk driving injury accident was suspended WITH pay? Recently, another one was found not guilty after an-already handcuffed woman was hit in the face. Nothing will happen to this one either.

A. Kadach(The courts will decide on that.)

I agree that the cop who allegedly crashed into a teen's vehicle will most likely be acquitted of the charges. C'mon, this is Edmonton. Public servants scratch one another's backs. If police would do some work, we might not have swarmings or all the drugs and prostitution. Try living on 107 Avenue. It's like another Hobbema.

J. Christman(It's a little rough at times.)

Re: Lack of civility to EPS officers. Given the recent clearing of the officer who threw a handcuffed woman face down onto the sidewalk and other incidents where the result was an acquittal or a wrist slap, it's not surprising people lose respect for police. The recent swarming of cops could be a decline of civility or a sign of a loss of respect for a broken system that doesn't hold police accountable for their actions on the job.

T. Dafoe(Interesting theory.)

[indeed it is an interesting theory: one that readers of this blog were able to read about almost two months ago -ed]

In 1996 I witnessed a truck crash into three other vehicles and get stuck under one of them. We held the driver at the scene. His breath reeked of booze and he could hardly walk. Police quickly drove him away. He was a cop. In court, he was found not guilty because he'd had a concussion prior to the crash. Do I have faith that this latest EPS officer will be convicted of drunk driving? No.

P. McCulloch(Time will tell.)

Re: Cop charged with drunk-driving crash. How does a city police constable manage to afford a $100,000 745i BMW?

Travis Harder(Maybe he works a lot of special duty gigs.)

Special duty gigs? Or is a better clue in the news story that marijuana was found in the officer's car? (Speaking of the biased nature in which EPS investigates themselves -- and the media lets them get away with it -- is in this byline to the story: "Police haven't determined who owned the marijuana in officer's crashed BMW" So the next time there's pot found in my car, will EPS perform an investigation to learn how it got there? Incidently, another possible answer to how a cop can afford such a car might lay in my earlier posts regarding cops accepting bribes (primarily from bar managers). But good luck getting a clear answer on these questions with the wacko EPS defenders out there.

Case in point: Mindelle Jacob's column from May 14th.

Wanton hooliganism by cop-haters:It didn't take long for people to, in effect, excuse the goons who attacked Edmonton police officers in two disturbing incidents this week.

According to some of the letters to the editor that have arrived, people have lost respect for the authorities because of perceived abuses of power by the police or because bad cops seemingly never get punished.

Therefore, the thinking goes, we shouldn't be surprised when cynical and frustrated members of the public beat up on cops every so often.

Maybe the two cops who were swarmed and attacked outside a downtown nightclub Saturday didn't deserve it, the argument goes. And maybe the officer who was kicked unconscious Monday when he tried to stop a former student who was stunting in a vehicle outside a high school didn't deserve it either.

But the message the apologists for the hooligans are sending is frightening, nevertheless: Violence against police officers is to be expected because, well, the cops sometimes screw up.

It's unfortunate timing that the news about the EPS cop facing impaired driving-related charges emerged at the same time as the stories of the beaten officers, since this will simply encourage the cop-haters.

Let's be clear. There are bad cops out there and sometimes officers who've broken the law receive such kid-glove treatment - during arrest, trial and sentence - that public outrage ensues. Such incidents deepen public cynicism and can undermine respect for criminal justice.

But it's quite a stretch to imagine that the thugs who attacked these officers were fuelled by anger over police wrongdoing and an unfair system that tends to give bad cops a break.

Make no mistake. This was wanton hooliganism by cop-haters just for the hell of it. And it's a sad commentary on the demise in civility that Edmonton - and Canada as a whole - used to be proud of.

We can debate endlessly what's driving our raging, hate-filled, violent society. Depending on who you talk to, everything from gangsta rap's glamorization of guns and gangs to single-parent families and our crumbling social safety net has contributed to our downfall.

In Winnipeg, it's apparently become a macabre game to use stolen vehicles as weapons to try to run down cops and crash into police cruisers.

Some may remain unmoved - perhaps even secretly gloating - when the police are attacked. But you can be sure they'll call the cops when their lives are in danger.

More than 8,000 police officers in Canada and 930 in Alberta were assaulted in 2006. The same year, there were 1,000 assaults on other peace officers, such as correctional workers, across the country. And between 1961 and 2006, 128 Canadian cops were the victims of homicide.

In the U.S., the figures are even more staggering. Last year alone, 68 officers were shot dead - up from 54 in 2006. Thank goodness there are still many more decent, honest, law-abiding citizens around than barbarians who think it's a hoot to pummel a cop.

Still, it makes you wonder where we're headed.

"Attacking police officers is a very, very significant downward step as far as the evolution of society is concerned," says Edmonton criminologist Bill Pitt. "It's a backlash against any form of authority."

He blames it largely on soft penalties handed out by a "toothless judiciary."

We'll see what da judges have to say about this latest batch of thugs.

"Jacobs believes "it's quite a stretch to imagine that the thugs who attacked these officers were fuelled by anger over police wrongdoing and an unfair system that tends to give bad cops a break". Really? Why would it be such a stretch? Every day another story of bad cops breaks in the news, and no connection can be made to violence against cops (and ordinary people writing letters to the paper declaring the police to be at fault)?

But by far the worst sentence in the article is this one: "Violence against police officers is to be expected because, well, the cops sometimes screw up."

Screw up? Screw up?? The word that Mindelle is looking for is corruption. And when police are corrupt, there is absolutely no hesitation in my mind at all: they deserve exactly what happens to them.

This is a Third Edge of the Sword challenge to those cop defenders: where was Brown (the drunk driving cop) during the Whyte Ave police civil liberties crackdown? Were either of the two swarmed officers, or the one attacked at a high school, involved in the Overtime sting? Have any of them accessed the police database for personal business?

Come up with that information, and we'll see who the real guilty party is.

Bonus "Edmonton Police don't get no respect" May 13th letters:

Re: COP accused of drunken injury accident. I know the officer is innocent until proven guilty, but I'll bet a month's pay that he'll be cleared of all charges, once the EPS gets through its "internal" investigation. Maybe now is the time to set a strong example that no police officer is above the law.

Tim Schutz(Good idea, if he's found guilty.)

According to news reports, police are "upset" that one of their own has been charged with drunk driving? And the officer has been suspended with pay? Suspend him with NO pay! I'm disappointed in our system.

Elizabeth Smith(There is the option to suspend him without pay.)

An allegedly drunk cop runs a red light and T-bones a group of young kids almost killing the driver and gets suspended WITH pay? This just goes to show that cops are above the law. Recently on 50 Street, I had a cop catch up and pass me while I was driving the posted speed. These officers weren't on a high-priority call or they wouldn't have stopped at traffic lights as they did. Maybe they were on their way to protect the doughnuts.

L. Pate.(Like any citizen, cops should obey speed limits.)

I've spoken on this topic before, though probably not on this blog: lets get some people with cell phone cameras taking videos of these speeding EPS officers. Feel free to post to Youtube and/or send to the media so we can start demanding these officers justify their willingness to disobey the law. (Personally I don't have any problem with speeding in Edmonton anyways: speeding in and of itself isn't particularly dangerous, and the speed limits are all set to low anyways. But if EPS has such a bug up their ass regarding catching us speeding it doesn't bother me one bit to hand these corrupt cops their asses back).

Const. Douglas Kurtis Brown, 29, has been charged with three counts of impaired driving causing bodily harm, three counts of dangerous driving causing bodily harm and driving with a blood alcohol level over .08 and he gets suspended with pay? If police Chief Mike Boyd honestly thinks this is an appropriate way to deal with this he should be fired immediately.

Andrew P. Mclean(The suspension with pay rankles many people.)

So the officer who is accused of driving drunk and injuring three people gets to go on vacation while the others who he injured, recuperate?

A. Etherington(Your cynicism is duly noted.)

Well, here we go again. Another of "Edmonton's finest" is involved in a situation where the average citizen would be treated much differently. If this officer is convicted, does it not make sense that he be terminated immediately? Chief Boyd needs to take care of this.

2008-05-13

Remember back when I produced this list of ways that you could tell that Edmonton Police was getting to be as corrupt and criminal as the heydays of the LAPD? You may recall that item #4 was a group of people swarming and attacking an off-duty police officer.

Hey guess what Boyd? Your Edmonton Police are corrupt, and what you've seen is people actually fighting back! You are the guilty party here!

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Edmonton Police Service is a gang of hoodlums, thugs, and criminals. Like all thugs and criminals who have bad things happen to them, I don't feel remotely bad about this.

Were either of the two officers involved in the Oil City swarming incident involved on Whyte Ave during the Oilers playoffs? If so, I am summarily announcing that they deserved to be swarmed and beaten and that they are merely two more officers who reaped what they have sewn.

Boyd said there have been other swarming incidents and muggings in which civilians are also being targeted.

Guess what Mike Boyd? You are in a large part responsible for the corruption in the force. You whitewash it when it happens in public. You deny it when it happens in private. You encourage and facilitate it (which you are continuing to do even today). People get frustrated at the rampant abuse of police powers and fight back, and you're surprised about this?

"While the officer was struggling on the ground, two males jumped on his chest and continued to punch and kick him while he was down. One officer attempted to use the 'taser' but someone from the crowd pushed him and he missed the target. Multiple people attacked the officers, but three primary suspects were the ones that were arrested when the back up officers were the ones to arrive on the scene."

Edmonton Police is a force of evil in the City of Edmonton, and that I will actively oppose them at all turns. I already have twice over the past six weeks been in possession of information about people who were wanted by the police, in one case hiding a block away from his vehicle. I have done nothing to assist EPS in their actions, and will continue to do so until the crimes they are guilty of have been paid back in full, preferably with lethal consequences.

Update, 6:45pm: Earlier today 630 CHED's website was showing a story regarding the decision to suspend the drunk driving cop "with pay", talking about "political influences". It's no longer existing, even as an edited new version in their news section. Interesting, eh?

That all changed on April 24. That was the day McDonald's Canada rolled out its new Angus Burger. I don't want to be overly dramatic about this — but I really don't think I can go back to eating regular hamburgers again.

Okay look, you almost have to respect the Angus people for making such a big deal out of their breed. Look at Kay's comments:

In fact, everything about this burger tastes premium. That includes the 100% Angus beef patty, which is so delicious that you can hardly believe it is surface fried. (The thought that this burger might be even better — if it were flame-broiled — boggles the mind.)

Here's something to remember: nobody has a freaking clue whether its Angus or not once its ground into hamburger. A carcass expert can make an educated guess from certain whole cuts of meat, but even the most hardcore Angus rancher wouldn't have a clue if his burger was Angus or Charolais or Murray Grey or Limousin or Gelbvieh.

I have also had the McDonalds Angus Burger, and I'm not a fan. I already miss my delicious Big Xtra (with cheese and bacon) and am seriously cutting back my previously sizeable McDonalds intake as a result. Just plain Big Macs isn't enough for me. I find this Full Comment discussion interesting because over the weekend I was debating blogging about this very topic. I had gone to McDonalds (still disappointed about the Angus burger) and tried the "Classic Crispy chicken" which is also now premiumly on ciabatta bread. They have a new tangy sauce that I don't like at all, meaning McDonalds is really risking my business with this new change. I hope Jonathon Kay is planning on eating there 4 times a week, or else they'll lose out!

At the end of his missive Kay brings up the Big Xtra's forerunner, the Arch Deluxe (which was a better sandwich than the Big Xtra by a small amount):

One cannot help but wonder: Will the Angus Burger go the way of the $300-million Arch Deluxe project 12 years ago? Recall that the AD was also a "premium" burger sold at an upscale price. During an email discussion I had with some friends yesterday, I was reminded that the ads featured Ronald McDonald in a business suit, and claimed that it was “the McDonald’s burger with the grown-up taste” — or some such. In an eerie foreshadowing of the Angus Burger, it, too, had an upscale sauce (bernaise), as well as an upscale onion treatment (sautéed).

I just thought it interesting that Kay forgets that the Arch Deluxe didn't "go the way" of anything other than becoming the Big Xtra -- which my weekend McDonalds companions already managed to forget ever existed.

So I Googled the McDLT to see what traces of it remain on the Internet. My search quickly brought me to this terrifically horrible McDLT commercial starring a pre-Seinfeld Jason Alexander who should go back in time and fire his stylist.

2008-05-10

This isn't a very thought out piece, just a random thought that occured to me walking to the liquor store this afternoon.

The modern world has taken to regulating and criminalizing more and more things (everything from smoking within 3 metres of a doorway to operating a crane alone with less than 1000 hours experience).

The problem becomes one of equivalency. It's fairly well known that MAID actively wants to villify and criminalize all driving while intoxicated so that in society's eyes [ignore this notion of "society" having human physical characteristics -ed] drunk driving is morally equivalent to breaking and entering.

The problem as I see it is that it seems that everything goes the other way: murdering and raping a small girl is criminal, but then so is failing to properly maintain your company's MSDS datasheets. In our haste to make more and more things less and less acceptible, the opposite has occured. And that can't be good.

(Again, comments are a good place for debate and discussion of this topic: as I say, I've only partially formed it and was carrying heavy booze at the time)

2008-05-08

I wonder how that admission will affect the CJC's case before the Canadian Human Rights Commission right now. The CJC is an intervenor. If they're conceding that the CHRC is incompetent, isn't that legally relevant? Has that incompetence affected their investigation and prosecution of the CJC's own case?

Two problems with Ezra's statement:

1. At what point of studying and being involved in hearings in Human Rights Commissions has Ezra ever been led to believe that "legally relevent" matters one whelp to these people?

2. CJC never conceeded the CHRC is incompetant, one of their "senior members" stated so off the record. Ezra's been a lawyer long enough to know that the legal opinion of an organization is only cocked up in a meeting with a recorded vote, not based on the comments of any member of the board (no matter how senior).

Today on Sonic I heard that weird British-accented guy talking about the Edmonton Walk for Darfur which runs today. He'd started talking about how great things are being done in Edmonton today which I thought would segue into a talk about Capital City Cleanup (today doing Hawreluk Park). Instead he went all misty-eyed about how people were "doing good" by walking for Darfur, and that if you the listener was one of those people walking for Darfur then the world needs more people like you.

I'm here to tell you right now he's wrong. What's the walk for Darfur supposed to accomplish? Will the Janjaweed militia, undisturbed by condemnation from the United Nations and the resistance of the Zaghawa rebels, suddenly lay down their arms and stop the genocide because some numb-nuts in Edmonton marched?

There are a lot of people doing wonderful things in Edmonton today. People marching for Darfur are not one of them.